Gold-saving machine.



No. 799,161. PATENTED sEPT.12, 1905.

i J. E. HOLMES.

GOLD SAVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO 6.1904.

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GOLD SAVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DBO 6.1904.

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GOLD SAVING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 1320.15.1904.

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lil l lili IH lIO lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONAS B. HOLMES, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO HOLMES- BOWMANDRY PLACER MINING CO., A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA TERRITORY.

GOLD-SAVING MACHINE.

v Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1905.

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Be it known that I, JONAS B. HOLMES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gold-SavingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for separating the free gold in g'raveldeposits from the surroundingmaterial without the aid of water; and theobject thereof is to provide a simple and cfiicient machine for thatpurpose having a large capacity. I accomplish this object by the machinedescribed herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a side elevation of my gold-saving' machine. Fig. 2 is aplan of the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation, partly in section, of theseparating' or dry-washing boxes and their operating mechanism, otherportions of the machine being' omitted for clearness of illustration.Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a portion of the feeding' mechanism.Fig'.

5 is a perspective view of a portion of a separating-box. Fig. 6 is anenlarged cross-section of two separator-boxes. Fig. T is a plan view ofthe elevator-feed-controlling mechanism.

In the drawings, in Fig'. l I have shown my machine in operation forworking the auriferous gravel 8, which is raised by means of theelevator 9 and deposited in the screening-chute 10 upon the coarsescreen 1l, which serves to screen out the larger rocks which are usuallyfound in such material. A second screen 1Q, liner than the screen 11,removes smaller rocks from the gravel, and the rocks which are thusscreened out pass through chute 13 and are delivered upon the traveling'apron 14, which carries them out of the machine and deposits them uponthe dump at the back of the machine. The finer material is deliveredfrom the screening-chute into a trough 15, from which it is led, bymeans of the flexible tubes 16, into the feedhoppers 17 of theseparating-boxes 18.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, my machine is preferably constructed ofbatteries of separating-boxes, of which there are twelve on each side.The lower three of these separator-boxes are connected by spouts 19 withthe feed-hopper, and the upper one is connected with the feed-hopper bya port 20 in the bottom of the feed-hopper. In the bottom of theseparator-boxes are staggered hackle-pins 2l to cause the disintegrationof any looselycompacted gravel that is fed into the boxes. As shown inFigs. 3 and 6, the gravel is received into the separator-boxes at thecentral portion thereof, and on each side of the point where the gravelis received into the box are swinging' gates 22, which permit the gravelto work to the ends of the boxes as the same are tilted, hereinafterexplained, but prevent the gravel from going back, when the materialpasses out of the boxes through the gangue-spouts 23 and is deliveredeither upon the traveling' apron 14. or upon the deflecting-apron 24.,on which it slides to the traveling apron, which carries it out of themachine to the dump. The gold-dust, however, is prevented from enteringthe gangue-spouts by the ore-troughs 25, which are preferably set onedge, as best shown in 5 and 6. Below -each swinging gate, except thosenearest the point where the gravel is delivered into the box, areretarding-ribs 26, which form a species of riiiie, as best shown inFigs. 5 and 6. These banks of separator-boxes are pivotally connected tothe supporting-standard 27, there being' one of these standards at eachside of each battery of boxes. These standards rest loosely in sockets28 in the bottom timber Q9. Those in the center of the machine areguided by yokes 30. Those on the outer sides of the machine areconnected to a bifurcated bar 31, the fureations of which pass around avertical timber of the frame. The other end of this bifurcated bar ispivotally connected to one arm of bellcrank lever 32. The other arm ofthis bellcrank lever is connected to pitman-rod 33,

which is secured to the crank-pin 34- ofthe crank 35, secured upon shaft36, which crank upon the rotation thereof through its connecting'mechanism causes an oscillating movement of the separatorboxes. Theseseparator-boxes are connected by a bar 37 to crank 3S, rigidly securedto shaft 39, which shaft carries a mutilated gear 40, the teeth of whichcover only one-half the circumference of the wheel and mesh with arack-bar 41. Gear 4:0 is loosely mounted on shaft 39, connected to crank42, secured upon shaft 43, which shaft carries sprocket-wheel 44, whichis driven by sprocket-chain 45, which chain passes over sprocket-wheelA6 on shaft 4.7.

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This shaft carries a sprocket-wheel 48, over which passes sprocket-chain49, which passes over a sprocket-wheel 50, which last sprocketwheel ismounted upon shaft 36, to which is rigidly aixed driving-pulley 51, towhich power is applied to operate the machine. The elevator is composedof buckets 52, which are secured at each end to chains 53 and 54, whichchains pass oversprocket-wheels 55 and 56, secured upon shaft 47. Idlersprocketwneels 57 change the direction of the inner side of theelevator, so as to permit the delivery ofthe material being elevatedupon the deflecting-board 57 which deflects it into the screening-chute.The lower end of the elevator passes around a drum 58, which is mountedin the vertical swinging arms 59 and 60. The shaft 6l of this drumprojects beyond the arms in which it is mounted, and on the projectingends of said shaft are bars 62 and 63, whose inner ends are secured to across-bar 64. To the center of this crossbar is secured a rope 65, whichwinds around a drum 66, mounted on shaft 67, which shaft is revolublymounted in the vertical timbers of the frame of the machine. At one sidedrum 66 is provided with holes 68 for the reception of the operating-bar69, by means of which the drum is rotated to feed the elevator into thematerial, as shown in Fig. 1, so that a considerable quantity of thesame may be moved without changing the position of the machine In theoperation of my machine, the same being in the position shown in Fig. l,power is appliedto drive-pulley 51, which through connecting mechanismoperates all the other moving parts of the machine. The gravel iscarried up and delivered into the screeningchute, from-whence it passesthrough the flexible tube into the feed-hoppers and thence into theseparatingboxes. As before explained, the rotation of shaft 36 throughthe connecting mechanism causes the oscillating movement of theseparator-boxes. Therotation of shaft 43 by means of crank 42 causes thereciprocation of the rack 4l, which causes the mutilated gear 40 to turnbackward and forward upon shaft 39. This gear carries a dog 70, whichengages a two-toothed ratchetwheel 71, which is rigidly affixed uponshaft 39, whereby upon the movement of the rackbar toward the elevatorshaft 39 is caused to make a half-revolution, which through connectionmechanism causes the tilting of the separator-boxes and upon the returnmovement of the rack-bar permits them to remain at the angle to whichthey were turned by the forward movement of the rack-bar, from which .itwill be seen that first one end of the boxes is elevated and the otherend is depressed and that upon the next forward movement of the rack-barthe elevated end is depressed and the depressed end is raised and thatduring all of the time the boxes are subjected to thereciprocatory'niovement, thereby causing the gold contained in thegravel to separate from the gangue and to settle to the bottom, where itis caught and held by the rifles'andoretroughs, from which it isremovedas soon as a sufficient quantity thereof is collected therein torequire its removal in order to save it all.v This is done bydisconnecting bar 37 and then turning the boxes upside down and thenturning them to cause the gold to pass out of the gangue-spouts.

To cause both batteries of separator-boxes to be tilted together, I havesecured to the battery that is not connected with bar 37 at one edgethereof a bar 72, which carries an L-shaped arm 73, which arm passesover a wheel 74, secured in bearings 75, aiixed to the battery of boxeswhich is connected to bar 37. Bar 72 passes under this wheel, so thatthe batteries of boxes may reciprocate independently of each other, butboth sets of batteries will be tilted together. The bottoms of theseparator-boxes are preferably covered with coarse gravel held thereonby glue. The traveling apron is driven by chain 76, which passes overwheels 77 and 78.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a simple and eflicient machineof large capacity for recovering placer-gold by the dry-washing process.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

l. In a placer-gold separator; a separatorbox pivotally supported inbearings; means to give said box a lateral reciprocatory movement, andmeans to cause the alternate elevation and depression of the ends ofsaid separator-box, each end being alternately higher than the otherend.

2. In a placer-gold separator; a separatorbox pivotally supported inbearings; means to give said box a lateral reciprocatory movement;staggered hackle-pins in the bottom of said box; and means to cause thealternate elevation and depression of the ends of said separator-box.

3. In a placer-gold separator; a separatorbox pivotally supported inbearings; staggered hackle-pins projecting upwardly from the floor ofsaid box; rifiies extending transversely said box; inclined gatespivotally mounted in said box, said gates permitting the flow ofmaterial toward the outer ends thereof, and preventing its flow towardthe center; and means to cause the alternate elevation and depression ofthe ends of said separator-box.

4. In a placer-gold separator; a separatorbox pivotally supported inbearings; staggered hackle-pins in the bottom of said box; rifflesextending transversely said box; and means to give said boxa lateralreciprocatory movement.

5. In a placer-gold separator; a separatorlOO IZO

box pivotallj/v supported in bearings; stag'- gered hackle-pins in thebottom of said box; riliies extending transversely said box; and meansto cause the alternate elevation and depression of the ends of said box.

6. In a placer-gold separator; a frame; an elevatorl in said frame; ascreening-hopper into which said elevator empties at the upper end ofthe frame; screens in said hopper; a trough below said screens near thelower end of said hopper; separating-boxes below said trough;feed-hoppers opening into said boxes; flexible tubes leadingfrom saidtrough to said feed-hopper; haclle-pins projecting' upwardly from thebottom of said boxes; said hacllepins being staggered; rirlles extendingtransl versely said boxes; inclined swinging gates above said rltlles;gangue-spouts at the ends ot said boxes; atraveling apron below saidboxes adapted to receive the ganguc and carry the J UNAS B. HOLMES.

Witnesses:

(. E. H mPrLun B'IARGARHTE C. Nioxmnesox.

